Bacon. ice cream. Frosting. Candy. Runners don’t eat that stuff right?!
WRONG.
I recently ran the Des Moines Marathon and I ate all that stuff during my Des Moines Marathon training.
I’m sick of watching the running world starve themselves and it’s time somebody spoke up. Listen up: eating kale, fish, broccoli, and bananas is all fine and dandy until you find yourself exhausted, injured, and above all-depressed. Believe me, I know. I went through an eating disorder in high school and lost 27 pounds in a year once and all 3 of the latter symptoms happened to me one at a time.
The Culture
I’m done running collegiately and that was a blast don’t get me wrong; however, the culture isn’t what it used to be and it makes me sick. There are too many sad, skinny people out there running their lives away while trying to survive off eating carrots and 80 calorie yogurt cups. The sad thing is-no one is stopping them. Not even coaches or trainers because if you’re running fast it’s working right?! Wrong. Wait a few months and I guarantee you will have dug yourself into a pit of misery you can’t crawl out of. Not to mention that you’ll hate your life.
Happiness
Happiness. Gosh it’s great. This summer I trained for a marathon and yes, I ate healthy but I also ate whatever I wanted when I felt like it and it was glorious. No, I didn’t have Twinkies and pop all day but if I wanted to have dessert I did and I felt no guilt because I had earned it. Every runner out there deserves to eat and if you don’t think that then get a different coach or different friends or maybe just stop being so dang hard on yourself.
The book that got me through training
This summer/fall I didn’t count calories, eat tuna packets every day, or weigh myself. I just ran and ran and loved it. When I was craving something I ate it, if I was hungry for cheesecake sometimes I ate 2 huge pieces, or ice cream by the carton. Foodster adventures were a thrill for me with my creative boyfriend, Nick Lucs who has a sincere passion for food and the artistic element in can bring to life. It is a pleasure, not a poison. Eat up my friends.
Leading Up To The Marathon
The week leading up to my big 26.2 I ate doughnuts, take-out Chinese, burgers and fries, bacon, and ice cream. Heck, the day before I went to Jethro’s BBQ and had a bacon brisket sandwich and ice cream. After running a 3:26 with no injuries, exhaustion, or burn-out I might add, I ate Panda Express. It was the best race of my life because I was insanely happy-and healthy. Not to mention my legs for once didn’t feel exhausted.
Am I 100 pounds or the world record holder you might ask? No, I am not. But I am happy and I’m a Foodster and I think at the end of my life I will not regret the ice cream I ate or the miles I ran while creating a balance in my life.
Stop making running a job and start running free and loving your life for what it is and most importantly-run happy.
